Comparative Bird Community Assessments in Grassland, Shrubland, and Woodland Habitats at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1997 and 2022-2023)

Across North America, avifauna abundance has declined by 30% since 1970 (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). Direct mortality from anthropogenic sources (pets, cars, collisions with building, power lines, wind turbines, etc.) and indirect mortality (habitat loss, disturbance, climate change, etc.) have both been major contributors to these declines (Loss, S.R. et al. 2015 and Calvert, A.M. et al. 2013). Variables such as migration patterns, family, breeding and non-breeding biomes show differing rates of decline (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). In New Mexico, there are three breeding biomes all classified with declining avian abundance. Avian abundance in grasslands has declined by 53.3% since 1970, western forests by 29.5% and arid lands by 17.0% (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). All three of these biomes also occur at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge thus temporal declines in species richness and abundance are expected. This project was originally designed to sample the species richness and abundance of birds on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in three types of habitat: grassland, creosote shrubland and pinyon-juniper woodland. Surveys were conducted between January 1991 and May 1997 (Parmenter, R. 2016). Surveys were re-established in 2022 to document current species richness and abundance and to capture any temporal changes from the 90s data. Avian point count survey stations in grassland, creosote and pinyon-juniper habitats run through existing study sites which have all been subjected to intense research activity. Literature Cited A. M. Calvert, C. A. Bishop, R. D. Elliot, E. A. Krebs, T. M. Kydd, C. S. Machtans, G. J. Robertson, A synthesis of human-related avian mortality in Canada. Avian Conserv. Ecol. 8, art11 (2013). https://www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art11/ Loss, S. R., Will, T., Marra, P. P. 2015. Direct Mortality of Birds from Anthropogenic causes. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 46, 99–120. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-112414-054133 Parmenter, R. 2016. Bird Community Assessment in Grassland, Shrubland, and Woodland Habitats at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1997) ver 120281. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/3beb1560512426422d81806084a1f56b (Accessed 2021-09-14). Rosenberg, K.V., Dokter, A.M., Blancher, P.J., Sauer, J.R., Smith, A.C., Smith, P.A., Stanton, J.C., Panjabi, A., Helft, L., Parr, M., Marra, P.P. 2019. Decline of the North American avifauna. Science, 366(6461), 120-124. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aaw1313